U.S. productivity falls for first time since 2008

[SarahB]

Source: MSNBC

Productivity declined by an annual rate of 0.9 percent after rising at a revised 3.9 percent rate in the first quarter, the first time since the fourth quarter of 2008 that output per worker fell.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast that productivity, a measure of hourly output per worker that is taken as an indicator of the economy's vitality or lack of it, would expand at a 0.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter and that unit labor costs would rise 1.3 percent.

Unit labor costs, a gauge of potential inflation pressures closely watched by the Federal Reserve, edged up at a 0.2 percent annual rate after shrinking at a revised 3.7 percent rate in the first three months this year.

The weak productivity figure is in line with other broad signs that the economic recovery is losing momentum. The overall economy grew at only a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, down from a 3.7 percent rate in the first quarter.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38638247/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

[marmar]

1. Uh-oh, the markets won't like that.....Slaves aren't working as hard for their scraps.

nt

[Flatulo]

2. Not too surprising - most workers these days are training their Chinese replacements. nt

[Demeter]

3. And the Beatings Will Continue---Until Morale Improves!

[paparush]

4. Everyone's too busy posting on DU and FreeRepublic nt

[bhikkhu]

5. This is one of the predictors of the arrival "peak oil"

If you look at the whole infrastructure of energy and industrialism behind the long rise of productivity world-wide, it is widely predicted that productivity must decrease as the availability of energy decreases.

Or in another way: as energy costs rise the cost of productivity increases rises, until the point is reached where declining marginal returns on investment render those investments pointless.

[ixion]

6. How long can you push your employees to the limit before they become exhausted

the answer is: only a few months, at best, after that, productivity is bound to fall.

[Aviation Pro]

7. It's because we're tired....

...think I'll take a fucking nap.

[Downwinder]

8. Productivity initially rises during a recession,

due to selling out of inventory. Then when inventory is gone, productivity declines since there are not enough production workers.

[discocrisco01]

9. Productivity declines unexpectedly as US workweek lengthens

Source: Bloomberg

WASHINGTON — Productivity in the United States unexpectedly decreased in the second quarter after employers expanded the workweek by the most in four years, even as the world’s largest economy cooled.

Tweet 1 person Tweeted this.Submit to Diggdiggsdigg.
Yahoo! Buzz ShareThis .The measure of employee output per hour fell at a 0.9 percent annual rate, the first drop since late 2008, the Labor Department said yesterday. Hours worked climbed at a 3.6 percent rate, leading to a 2.6 percent increase in the amount of goods and services produced.

A lengthening workweek signals employers have reached efficiency limits after productivity climbed by the most in five decades in the 12 months to March.

Productivity “is coming back to Earth after what had been unsustainably strong gains,’’ said Michael Feroli, chief US economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., who projected it would drop. Hours worked “seems to be the margin along which firms are expanding.’’


Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/08/11/productivity_declines_unexpectedly_as_us_workweek_lengthens/

[primavera]

10. Why would that be "unexpected"?

Seems pretty obvious to me...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. Another one for the No Shit Sherlock files.

Should simply be a daily category.

How the hell did American Labor become so fucking STUPID so quickly??? :shrug:

[okieinpain]

12. by the way, why can't the government give people tax cuts for paying rent

to a certain amount. that way people could at least rent out some of these homes that they can't sell instead of letting them go empty.